In what will surely be a crushing blow to at least four, maybe five gamers across the globe, Sony has announced that it is ending support for its branded PlayStation Mobile game store and platform. If you'll recall, that's the app and control setup that is (or was) exclusive to Xperia phones and tablets, plus a few select models from HTC and Sharp. In a statement posted to the Japanese PlayStation website, the company said that devices running versions of Android past 4.4.3 would not be supported.

It's been a long road for the Wikipad, but in one short week, the odd little device will finally be available for purchase. After more than 18 months of development a complete redesign, the Wikipad will be launched next Tuesday, June 11th, at the reasonable price of $249 (including the unique controller add-on sleeve). The initial product push will be on Wal-mart.com, BestBuy.com, and TigerDirect.com, with more online and retail partners set to be announced after the E3 gaming show in July.

According to Pocket-lint, Sony is planning to bestow PlayStation Certification onto upcoming HTC Android smartphones by the middle of the year. What does said certification entail?

Basically, the PlayStation Suite project (of which PlayStation Certified hardware is a part) currently consists of a dozen or so ported PSX titles from Sony's back catalog - like Crash Bandicoot, or Syphon Filter. They work on PS Certified Android phones as well as the PlayStation Vita.

It's hardly a surprise, but it's welcome news nonetheless: Sony Ericsson just announced the Xperia Play, also known as the PlayStation Phone. We're still waiting for the full specs on this PlayStation certified device, so be sure to check back here soon for all the official details!

Update: The Play will run Android 2.3 Gingerbread at launch, and will be compatible with 50 games, including such titles as Assassin's Creed, Guitar Hero, Dead Space, and Reckless Racing.